Eric Fry was an All American at Cal as a flanker, and then when he was switched to prop, he was an All American again; that switch has sent him on a journey all over the world, and now, in Japan, he is going to be playing against the nation he has called home for the last three years—France.

"It's a very special game for me," said the USA prop forward. "I've been in France for the last three years, been immersed in the culture. It's very exciting to play against the country that I've been in. So going back [to Vannes] in three or four weeks, I want to be able to look those guys in the eyes and show them I gave everything and gave France a good run for their money."

Fry was part of the seemingly unceasing Jesuit-Cal-Eagles pipeline, playing on championship teams all the way through. 

"It was a long journey, playing at Cal ... and then a short stint in Las Vegas; went to New Zealand and played there which gave me enough credibility to go to England. At the end of my stint in England I was looking to play in France so I had my agents look in there and Saint-Nazaire was the only opportunity that showed up. Luckily, Vannes had an injury right when Saint-Nazaire was going bankrupt and the rest is history."

Fry didn't know French. Vannes is in Brittany, where they also speak Breton, which has some similarities to Welsh as well as French, just to make things extra difficult. 

"When I moved to France I didn't speak any French so that change was quite difficult," Fry said. "Part of the reason I wanted to go to France was to experience a different culture and to learn another language. Especially in Brittany, they even threw in the Breton language for our lineout calls so there was almost a third language in there. I think I adapted well. I've loved it."

Now Fry gets to play against his teamates' countrymen.

"They're a great team," he said of France. "But we're a competitive team too. If we're firing, we'll give them a very competitive match. If they show up like they did in the second half [against Argentina] then they'll be vulnerable."

Regardless, this has been an intriguing journey for the Sacramento-area native. Fry has been capped 45 times for the USA, with June 8, 2011 against Tonga being his debut. He's been at the top of the game in America for about 16 years.

"I was forced to leave the US to play competitively," he said. "As a child is that you don't really have domestic role models and heroes to look up to, but now you do. There's not too many of us, and there's more responsibility on the few that are, so we take that pretty seriously." 

Fry and the USA kick off against France in the Eagles' second 2019 Rugby World Cup game, Wednesday at 3:30AM ET on NBC Gold.